More than 400 people gathered at a Minnesota church today for the joint funeral of two cousins who were shot to death on Thanksgiving while burglarizing a home.

The deaths of Little Fall teens Haile Kifer, 18, and Nicholas Brady, 17, have stunned
the community, who have a lot of unanswered questions about the holiday
tragedy.

Rodney Bartkowicz, who said he was a relative of the victims, told Minnesota Public Radio that he remembers Kifer and Brady as 'generally really good kids.'

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Killed: The bodies of cousins Haile Kifer, 18, left, and Nicholas Brady, 17, right, were found stashed in the
basement of a man who claimed the teens broke into his home on
Thanksgiving

'I know there's a lot of anger right now because of everything that's
happening," Bartkowicz said. "I know there's a lot of ... questions why
it had to end up like it did. And I don't believe they'll ever really
get a true answer, even in the courts.'

Before the burglary was discovered,
deputies were called to the neighborhood because a red Mitsubishi
Eclipse was spotted in the driveway of a home owned by Richard L.
Johnson, Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel said.

Nicholas
Brady, 17, had been driving that car, although it wasn't registered to
him. Deputies questioned him, but then let him go, Wetzel said.

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A day later, Byron Smith shot and killed Brady and Brady's 18-year-old cousin, Haile Kifer, in the basement of his Little Falls home.

Smith told authorities that he disturbed the pair as they tried to break into his house and that he shot them in self-defense.

The same red Mitsubishi Eclipse was discovered Friday parked around the corner from Smith's property.

In custody: Byron Smith was arrested after admitting to police he had killed the teens a day earlier

'There are some preliminary indications that the Johnson burglary may have been committed by the Brady boy and the Kifer girl, but it's too early now to say definitively,' Wetzel said, adding that more information could be made available later today.

The Minneapolis StarTribune reported that Johnson, a retired high school teacher, had been in Spain and did not know his home had been burglarized until he returned to the home on Sunday.

Johnson told the paper that he reported several items stolen from his house, including less than $5 in pennies kept in a box on his dresser, silver and copper coins, and some prescription medication, including drugs for diabetes and controlling cholesterol.

Wetzel couldn't immediately say whether any of those missing items were found in Brady's car.

In addition, Johnson reported a sliding glass door that had been broken.

'I do know they found quite a bit of evidence in their vehicle that was parked near the Smith place,' the sheriff said late Tuesday. 'We're trying to investigate whether it might have come from the Johnson burglary.'

Smith, a retired U.S. State Department employee, was charged Monday with two counts of murder. According to the criminal complaint, Smith shot the teens multiple times.

He told investigators his home had been broken into several times before.

Minnesota law gives homeowners the right to protect themselves and their property, but Wetzel said they don't have the right to execute an intruder once the threat is neutralized.

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Johnson told the Star Tribune: 'The whole thing is
very sad that they lost their lives. In the same instance, if they
hadn't been breaking into houses, they'd be alive.'

Smith told authorities that he was in his basement last Thursday when he heard a window break upstairs.

Another break-in? A day before they were shot to death in Byron Smith's home, a car driven by Brady was spotted in the driveway of Richard L. Johnson's home in Little Falls

When he saw Brady on the basement stairwell, he fired at the teenager then shot him again in the face after he fell down.

The complaint said Smith told an investigator: 'I want him dead.'

Smith said he dragged Brady's body into his workshop. When Kifer came down the stairs, he shot her multiple times.

He dragged her into the room and as she gasped for air, he fired what he described as a 'good clean finishing shot' under her chin 'up into the cranium,' the complaint said.

Yesterday, Smith admitted that he fired 'more shots than he needed to,' as friends and family of the dead teens expressed outrage over their deaths.

On Monday, he was charged with second-degree murder and police revealed he told them he fired more shots than necessary after his gun jammed and Kifer laughed at him.

While Minnesota law stipulates people are allowed to use deadly force when defending their
homes, relatives, friends, police and prosecutors claimed Smith reacted too drastically by killing them.

Missed: Friends and teacher expressed their shock at deaths and described Haile as a popular role model

Joker: Friends remembered Brady as an out-going student who loved to make people smile

'A
person has every right to defend themselves and their homes, even
employing deadly force if necessary,' Morrison County Sheriff Michel
Wetzel said. 'Circumstances of this case however, led deputies to
believe that Smith went beyond that point.'

And as he was charged on Monday, his intentions to shoot the teens dead became clear.

In a criminal complaint, Smith said
he was in the basement of his home when he heard a window breaking and
footsteps. Fearful of other recent break-ins, he shot Brady when he came into view.

When the teenager tumbled down the stars, Smith shot him in the face as he lay on the floor, looking up.

'I want him dead,' the complaint quoted Smith as telling an investigator.

He dragged the body into his workshop
and then sat in the chair, the complaint said. When Kifer began walking
down the stairs, he shot her and she fell down the stairs.

Scene: Smith has always claimed self-defense, saying he feared the teens were armed and he was on edge after earlier repeated break-ins at his home

He tried to shoot her again with his rifle, but the gun jammed and Kifer laughed at him, the complaint noted.

'If you're trying to shoot somebody and
they laugh at you, you go again,' Smith, 64, told investigators, according to a criminal complaint filed
Monday.

He then shot her several times in the chest with a
.22-caliber revolver, dragged her next to her cousin, and with as she
gasped for air, fired a shot under her chin 'up into the cranium'.

'Smith described it as "a good clean finishing shot",' according to the
compliant, but acknowledged that he had fired 'more shots than
(he) needed to'.

Smith said he left the bodies in his home overnight before calling a neighbor to ask if he knew a good lawyer. He later asked the neighbor to contact police.

A prosecutor at Morrison County District Court
on Monday morning called Smith's reaction 'appalling.'

Pain: Crystal Shaeffel, 27, cries after walking up the driveway of the home of Byron David Smith in Little Falls, Minnesota where her brother Nick Brady was shot and killed on Thursday

'Mr. Smith intentionally killed two teenagers in his home in a matter
that goes well beyond self-defense,' Morrison County Attorney Brian
Middendorf said at the hearing.

Friends have taken to a memorial Facebook page for Kifer and Schaeffel to vent their anger about the deaths. Others spoke out at a vigil for the youngsters on Sunday night.

'They were just really great people,'
friend Rachel Stauffer, 15, told the Star Tribune. 'They
could make anyone laugh.'

Carlee Davich, who coached Kifer in swimming at school, added: 'She was
always happy. She had a way that just made everyone happy. A lot of the
swimmers and divers looked up to her.'

Emma Schmidt, a fellow classmate at Little Falls High School, said Kifer was talented and well-liked
and 'everyone's wondering' what she was doing in Smith's basement.

Further
insight into the lives of the cousins was given by Brady's sister,
Crystal Shaeffel, as she visited Smith's home and spoke with his
brother.

'They were 17 and 18 years old, and didn't need to die,' she told Bruce Smith.

Remembered: At a candle-lit vigil on Sunday, Rachel Brady speaks about her brother Nick to the crowd

'That
all depends on your perspective,' he responded, referring to a series
of break-ins his brother had endured. In one in October, thieves stole
$10,000 worth of guns and electronics, he said.

But Shaeffel insisted that her brother had no
need to turn to burglary, as he made good money working for their
father's tree-trimming business.

She added that her cousin, who had undergone treatment for substance abuse, could have been after pills from the home.

'Yes, she had an addiction problem and stuff, but that doesn't mean she
deserves to get murdered at 18 years old,' Shaeffel said. 'I understand
they came there to rob them, or whatever, but shoot them in the shoulder
and call the cops.'

On the Facebook page, friends agreed that the shootings were too severe.

'It doesn't matter what they
were or weren't doing there,' Mike Boulley wrote. 'They were KIDS that didn't deserve to die.
Defending your property against armed burglars is one thing, gunning
down two unarmed teenagers is just inexcusable.'

Support: Friends on a memorial Facebook page have asked whether the appropriate force was used

Logan Ayres added: 'It's hard to see
such nice people lose their lives to something that could of been so
easily taken care of instead of murder. R.I.P. nick and halie (sic) you will
be dearly missed.'

Smith, 64, is currently being held on $2million bail.

According to his friends, Smith said
that he had didn’t go to police immediately after the shooting because
he panicked about the deaths.

'He
was very traumatized by what had occurred and didn’t know who to call
or what to do and that is very sad that the whole thing even happened,'
Kathy Lange told KSTP-TV.

His brother, Bruce Smith, said that this was the latest of eight burglaries he had suffered in recent years.

Byron Smith said that he suspected that the two had been responsible for at least some of those past robberies.

Neighbors told the Star Tribune he kept
to himself, but they complained that he regularly shot guns on his
property and said they were concerned children playing nearby could be
hurt.